Catch and Release

That’s a scorpion on its back. I thought it was dead. I was going to pick it up when a coworker commented that it might still be alive and recommended using a cup. Thank goodness, because once it was no longer on its back, it was fighting mad. It was catch and release, and that little guy went back outside.

Compare that to yesterday. I was out in our garden, and I found not one but two tomato hornworms. In case you don’t know what they are, here is a picture from Farmer’s Almanac.

The ones I captured were the length of my index finger. The idea of touching one of these creeps me out, so thank goodness they were both on short branches with no tomatoes. I cut off the branch and threw them into the yard. If I could have captured a bird and brought it over to eat them, I would have. I hate these things.

This whole experience got me wondering why I was cool catching and releasing the scorpion, which actually could have hurt me, and wanting the icky green caterpillars to die. Then again, I didn’t kill the hornworms, I was only an accessory to the killer birds. But that is me rationalizing.

What do you think? Are there critters you will catch and release and others you kill, or is every insect subject to extinction around you?

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